The Grocery Accelerator are launching a groundbreaking new programme at Food Matters Live 2016, for ambitious food and drink businesses who want to secure crucial investment. The twelve week course is dedicated to helping high potential food and drink businesses discover the secrets to becoming an investor's dream.

The programme will provide a combination of real business experience, with some of the best connections in the industry. It will be led by The Grocery Accelerator team of experts, who have themselves, created successful multi million pound food and drink brands, and collectively raised more than £11m in funding.

The Grocery Accelerator will also be featuring in The Growth Lab - a new addition to Food Matters Live, which takes place on November 17th to 19th at ExCeL, London. The Growth Lab is designed to provide young and enterprising food and drink businesses access to a range of business advisory specialists.

Two of the scheme's co-founders - Rob Ward and Simon Lacey - will host short presentations in The Growth Lab; and they will also be on hand for one to one meetings with exhibitors and visitors. The Grocery Accelerator was also co-founded by Plum Baby's Paddy Willis. The Plum Baby brand broke the mould and created a new market place for baby food - successfully selling for £10million after five years.

How to write a winning retail presentation with Simon Lacey - Tuesday November 17th: 3.45pm - 4pm

Simon Lacey is the founder of Idea to Shelf Ltd, a consultancy specialising in helping SME food and drink businesses with great ideas, to grow and prosper. Simon has an outstanding track record of bringing brands to market; from large multi-nationals such as Colgate and Carlsberg, to fast growing premium brands such as Kettle Chips, Plum Baby and Lily's Kitchen. His 18-year expertise covers strategic planning, building business plans and mentoring - through to negotiating with both the trade and suppliers.

How to NPD a new idea on a low budget with Rob Ward - Wednesday Nov 18th: 3.45 - 4pm

Rob Ward created one of the largest fruit business in the UK, supplying national supermarkets such as M&S, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose. Following the success of the business, he created and built two farm retail businesses - which became nationally-regarded as leading examples of food retailing. He sold the businesses to private equity in 2009. He now uses his unique understanding of both production and retailing to help food producers develop new products and grow their businesses.

Simon Lacey said: "The Grocery Accelerator is passionate about helping new food and drink businesses accelerate their brands. So we are delighted to be part of The Growth Lab at this year's Food Matters Live, which aims to give practical advice to enterprising young businesses and help them to grow."

ENDS

Editor's Notes

To find out more about new The Grocery Accelerator course – groceryaccelerator.co.uk/need-help-getting-ready-for-investment/

To arrange one to one meetings at Food Matters Live contact Rob Ward at rob@groceryaccelerator.co.uk

For further press information and images, please contact: Claire Dunn or Harriet Williams at Monkhouse Food & Drink E: eat@monkhousefoodanddrink.co.uk T: 01939 290399 Twitter: @monkhousefood Instagram.com/monkhousefood The Grocery Accelerator 1-3 Frederick's Place London, EC2R 8AE Tel: 020 7294 7692 W: www.groceryaccelerator.co.uk Twitter: @GroceryAccel